Marina Alexeyeva

         One can hardly find any enterprise in our country, which had played such a great part in the history of domestic shipbuilding as well as in that of Russian fleet, other than the Admiralty Shipyards, a governmental unitary enterprise. It had been established pursuant to the Decree of Peter I as soon as one year after St. Petersburg had been founded, and has been a major shipbuilding yard of the industry for almost three centuries.
        For that time, more than two thousand ships and vessels of different class and purpose had been built there, starting from Peter's galleys to Peter the Great, the strongest ironclad, from a "concealed" vessel to Aurora, from a Russian brigantine to mighty nuclear-powered vessels and unique orders for submarine vehicles. Even economic scrapes of 1990s, which were disastrous upon other factories, just shook but failed to destroy Peter's creation.
        Indeed, they suffered from every disease of that time such as top manager appointment by election, barter payments, and spontaneous cooperative societies. However, they survived like the ships built there, having preserved their staff as well as their best traditions, failing which it is impossible to create ships of the class and quality which have been built there from the very beginning.
        "Today we can note that all the vessels built at the Admiralty Shipyards are to a highest standard and contract price. They proved themselves as very safe and conforming to the required operating criteria... And we shall not hesitate to offer the Admiralty Shipyards as an excellent site to build tankers" - it was a recent opinion about the activities of Admiralty Shipyards managers and employees as expressed by Mr. Edward Backnell, Fleet Manager for Columbia Ship Management Company. It seems that all other customers of St. Petersburg shipbuilders might share his opinion.
        At present, the enterprise is operating as steady as never before. Based on the latest year data, a share of the Admiralty Shipyards' products accounted for 22.6 percent of the shipbuilding output throughout Russia. The shipyard appeared to be the fourth from the top on a list of highest sales in St. Petersburg. It features an actual full capacity employment and a full order book for next years.
        What the Admiralty Shipyards employees relate their future to?
        According to Vladimir Leonidovich Alexandrov, the Shipyard's Managing Director, a special emphasis is placed on the construction of tanker fleet, non-nuclear submarines and deep-water facilities, small-size vessels and ship repairs. The enterprise is oriented mostly for export.
        Having examined purposefully the promising oil production areas, experts draw a conclusion that tanker fleet will be required on equal terms both on the oil fields of the Caspian Sea as well as on the Arctic coast of Russia. As a consequence, a Pulkovo tanker and then a new generation vessel, i.e. an oil product and chemical tanker Victor Dubrovsky have emerged. At the same time in 1997, the shipbuilders of Admiralty Shipyards were the first in Russia to start implementing a large-scale program for the construction of 5 most advanced tankers of ice class designed for Lucoil Company. Two of those, e.g. Magas and Astrakhan, have been already delivered to the customer. The third tanker of Arctic series has been launched recently, which delivery is scheduled late in this year.
        Generally speaking, an Arctic tanker is a unique phenomenon. It is a modern diesel vessel featuring a cruising range within 8 thousand miles, an independence of 40 days and a full speed in excess of 15 knots. In an ice environment, such a vessel is capable of overcoming a fast ice thickness up to 0.5 m at a speed of 2 knots. Nowadays the negotiations are in progress about the construction of the sixth tanker for Lucoil Company and a new prospective series of Arctic vessels with a 60 thousand tons deadweight capacity. Those vessels will retain all the advantages of the predecessors, but will be improved in terms of automation extent, tonnage, cruising range and speed.
        It is known that the use of the Northern Sea Route for the purpose of sea carriage by submarines is hampered greatly due to Arctic severe hydrological and weather conditions and, most important, a short shipping season. Therefore, the shipbuilders think about quite another line of activity, i.e. the construction of submarine transport ships designed for Arctic. To solve the above problem, it is supposed to set up a governmental structure such as a consortium to admit the representatives of governmental departments, major domestic oil and gas production companies, research institutions and manufacturing industries, Russian banks and foreign investors. Moreover, Mr. Alexandrov holds that some existing submarines could be re-equipped to carry raw materials.
        He thinks that "the main thing is to calculate the cost of such a project and arouse the interest of potential customers in the same manner as it happened, for instance, to new generation diesel submarines manufactured at Admiralty Shipyards, which are now produced for Russia and exported to India, Iran, China, and other foreign countries".
        Particular attention is paid to the production of unique deep-water Consul devices. Previously, such bathyscaphs were built only in Japan and France.American experts who visited the shipyard recognized that the United States are missing the devices of the class.
        Another line of activity is small-size vessels similar to aluminium northern boats of Master type. They have a safety certificate according to European modern standards, and leave foreign equivalents far behind owing to their sea-going properties, which apparent evidence is a permanently growing demand for them.
        Vladimir Leonidovich says, "Of course, it would be much more difficult for us to compete at the world markets if we had failed to establish our own design and technology basis within the Shipyard."
        And he gives an example of a production project for the tanker of ice class 20070. Developed through the efforts of the Admiralty Shipyards' Engineering Center, this tanker permitted to reduce the total project costs by about 20 percent.
        One can see here permanent re-equipment of production facilities, design and process engineering automation, introduction of advanced quality control systems. The Training Center provides refresher courses for the employees being especially valued here, proceeding from a reasonable assumption that human resources have been and will be the central point. That is why they speak with an equal optimism about the implementation of a social program and the development of a ten-year administrative shipyard development project to be presented by the end of this year. Admiralty Shipyards show excellent prospects.